Test a URL Content Redirection Setting

After you create and assign a URL Content Redirection setting, perform certain steps to verify that the setting is working properly.

Prerequisites

( Horizon 8 only)

Become familiar with vdmutil command-line interface options and requirements and verify that you have sufficient privileges to run the vdmutil command. See Using the vdmutil Command-Line Utility on a Connection Server Instance in Horizon 8.

Procedure

1. (Horizon 8 only) Log in to the connection broker instance.
2. (Horizon 8 only) Run the vdmutil command with the --readURLSetting option.
   For example:

   vdmutil --readURLSetting --urlSettingName url-filtering --authAs johndoe 
   --authDomain mydomain --authPassword secret

   The command displays detailed information about the URL Content Redirection setting. For example, the following command output for the url-filtering setting shows that HTTP and HTTPS URLs that contain the text google.* are redirected from the client to the local application pool named iexplore2012.

   URL Redirection setting url-filtering
      Description                                     : null
      Enabled                                         : true
      Scope of URL Redirection Setting                : LOCAL
      URL Scheme And Local Resource handler pairs
         URL Scheme                                   : http
         Handler type                                 : APPLICATION
         Handler Resource name                        : iexplore2012
         URL Scheme                                   : https
         Handler type                                 : APPLICATION
         Handler Resource name                        : iexplore2012
      AgentPatterns
           https://google.*
           http://google.*
      ClientPatterns
         No client patterns configured

3. On a Windows client, perform the following steps.
   1. Open Horizon Client, connect to the connection broker instance, click URLs that match the URL patterns configured in the setting, and verify that the URLs are redirected as expected.
   2. Open the registry editor (regedit) and check the registry keys in the path \Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Vmware. Inc.\VMware VDM\URLRedirection\.
      You should see a key for each protocol specified in the setting. You can click a protocol to see the rules associated with that protocol. For example, agentRules shows the URLs that are being redirected, brokerHostName shows the IP address or fully qualified host name of the connection broker instance that is used when redirecting the URLs, and remoteItem shows the display name of the desktop or application pool that handles the redirected URLs.
4. On a Mac client, perform the following steps.
   1. Open Horizon Client and connect to the connection broker instance.
   2. In a third-party application such as Notes, click URLs that match the URL patterns configured in the setting and verify that the URLs are redirected as expected.
   3. Verify that the JSON file is created.
      Note: The JSON file is created when the VMware URL Content Redirection Helper extension is installed.

      Browser	Path
      Chrome	~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default/Extensions/lfidjngibpklhhijphdmbmedchiiolgk/version/data.json
      Edge	~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft Edge/Default/Extensions/lfidjngibpklhhijphdmbmedchiiolgk/version/data.json

5. On a Linux client, perform the following steps.
   1. Open Horizon Client and connect to the connection broker instance.
   2. Verify that JSON files are created for third-party applications and browsers.
      Note: The browser JSON file is created when the VMware URL Content Redirection helper extension is installed.

      Component	Path
      Third-party application	~/.vmware/broker-url-config.json
      Chrome	~/.config/google-chrome/Default/Extensions/lfidjngibpklhhijphdmbmedchiiolgk/version/data.json
      Firefox	~/.mozilla/managed-storage/[email protected]

6. On a Chrome client, perform the following steps.
   1. Open Horizon Client and connect to the connection broker instance.
   2. Open a supported browser window and enter a URL in the address bar.
      For a list of supported browsers, see System Requirements for URL Content Redirection.
   3. Verify that the same URL opens in a browser window on the remote desktop.